1 Corinthians 4
1 People should regard us this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.
2 Moreover, what is required of stewards is that each one be found faithful.
3 As for me, it matters very little that you or any human court examine me; I do not even examine myself.
4 For I am aware of nothing against myself, but that does not make me righteous. The one who examines me is the Lord.
5 So do not judge anything before the appointed time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of hearts; then each one will receive praise from God.
6 Brothers and sisters, I have applied these things figuratively to myself and Apollos for your sake, so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” and so that none of you will become proud in favor of one person over another.
7 For who makes you different? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why are you proud as though you had not received it?
8 You are already satisfied! You have already become rich! You have begun to reign without us! If only you really did reign, so that we too could reign with you.
9 For I think God has put us apostles on display last of all, like people condemned to die, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to people.
10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are despised.
11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, wear rags, are beaten, and have no settled home.
12 We wear ourselves out working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless; when persecuted, we endure.
13 When slandered, we answer kindly. We have become like the world’s trash, the scum of everyone, right up to now.
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to advise you as my beloved children.
15 For even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
16 So I urge you: become imitators of me.
17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach everywhere, in every church.
18 Some have become proud, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not what those who have become proud can say, but what power they have.
20 For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power.
21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?
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